Wait, I thought the shale DLC was free with copies of the game?

Yeah, you might want to edit that. The Shale DLC is free with any new copy of the game, the only time you wouldn't get it is if you had a used copy where they already set it to their account.

I think Shale reminds me of HK47 from Knights of the Old Republic

@ Gyrael

I hope not. Too much DLC.

the DLC has been fantastic. Wardens Keep I actually think was quite brilliant. It's the writing that makes the DLC click and thus far it's been utterly amazing with me loving every second of it

Shale's my favorite character in the game so far. Crazy to think that he's not actually an integral part of the game.

I went into the game expecting too much "New Shit".

Now I've played it, I'm glad it hasn't kept to its marketting, but I can see a lot of people are going to be pissed they were marketted a GoW-esque slaughterfest to find it's actually a tactical RPG.

@ Hcapt

The DLC (referring to the Warden's Keep DLC) is not a "large portion of the game." It's an additional quest with a few nice bonuses. The Stone Prisoner DLC is practically a part of the main game that they took out, but as it has been noted, if you buy the game new you get the DLC, so it's not like they're withholding a major piece of the game for you to buy on top of the regular disc. It can be bought separately for $15, but that's only to offer an option for people who buy the game used (or pirate it, technically). I fully support this kind of DLC, as long as it's not the metaphorical "game's ending" DLC that people have brought up in the past.

Honestly you shouldn't get it on any console. It's awful from the sound of it. The PC version runs extremely well for how good it looks, I lag occasionally with my Pentium 4 3.4GhZ CPU, but I run it maxed out more or less fine. I definitely recommend getting it on the PC to get the best experience. They shouldn't have even bothered with console versions. :P

Also note, the DLC codes for the DLC for Dragon Age are a limited time thing, they expire April 30th of 2010. If it were made GOTY or had a re-release edition, it would probably come with a DLC disk like Bioware's last game, MAss Effect, did.

http://eahatesamerica.blogspot.com/

shale is free in the standard editions?
then why did i bother getting the collectors edition...

(as i work at a games store it worked out to be the same as buying the standard version so i dont really care that much)

Game is amazing and I will get the DLC for second playthrough. Do have a question though, I bought game new through Steam, where is my free DLC?
Bioware you are my gaming god, can't wait for the Old Republic.

@Hcapt:
As far as the stone prisoner is concerned we're lucky to have it at all. Because of technical issues they originally crapped Shale from the game entirely (too big to fit through doors). Bu when they changed the release date from May to November the team had the time to shrink Shale down and work out the bugs.

Bioware further explains on their forums that once you go gold (which the PC version did in May), you really don't mess around with the end product anymore for a variety of reasons related to development and that it is easier to add things in as DLC than stick them on the disc. Adding them to the disc resets the final check process of getting the product out the door and pushes things back even further. So that's why Shale was offered as free DLC, it was easier for them.

As for you buying them used to save money, well that's your problem. If you want to look out for your wallet instead of supporting developers who make excellent games that's your business and I won't fault you for that, but you have to take whatever disadvantages come with the territory. However, I don't think the fact that you're cheap take away from the excellence of this game.

At any rate, DA:O would be my vote for game of the year.

I got stone prisoner, a feral wolf charm, and blood dragon armor FOR FREE. Just for pre-ordering the game from (the devil spawn) Game Stop. I seriously dislike that place but some of their pre-order stuff is too good to pass up.

That reminds me, while I was there they sold an open copy of a game as new. Isn't that illegal? They told the guy next to me that it was a demo copy or something, but still sold it at full price. Sounds like the disc was played to me... USED!!!!! Devil Spawn I tell you!

In case there is any confusion. All new copies of the game standard or collectors came with blood dragon armor and the stone prisoner DLC. the feral wolf charm, memory band and whatever the other piece of gear was on that card are for pre-ordering at gamestop. The collectors edition came with ANOTHER card of DLC gear that was a bergens (?) honor helmet, a staff and something else.

I for one am pretty tired of hearing people whine about the DLC and inventory in this game.

1 - DLC - I'm about 35 hours into Dragon Age and I have barely scraped the surface of the content that is available ON THE DISK. Not counting the FREE DLC that comes with every copy of the game. In fact, they could have cut half the total content out of the retail game, and it would still be one of the bigger games of its kind and definitely worth buying. Any attempt to say that the Wardens Keep should have been on the disk due to lack of original content on the disk is ignorant. I'm not sure that the Stone Prisoner is worth a 15 dollar purchase, even though it is quite awesome, but that is irrelevant since it is included for free.

Honestly, I think its pretty genius on Bioware's part to include the DLC with new copies of the game. They are trying to evolve with the industry. We are talking about a game that has been in development for 5 years by a large studio. They have a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and most importantly, MONEY in the development of this game. Game developers are losing out big time because of the used game market, as I am sure you are all aware, and theres nothing wrong with Bioware trying to find new methods to increase sales.

If more companies adopt the practice of rewarding buyers of the new game with additional (additional, not striped out) content for free, I certainly won't complain. The only complaint I do have is that they could have done a better job explaining what came free with the game etc. as I'm sure many people accidently bought the stone prisoner DLC while having a free code for it in their game case. I'm willing to forgive them though because they are kind of breaking into new territory here.

2 - Inventory System - Given, I have not completed the game yet so I can only give my experience. Everyone seems pissed off about the limited inventory space in the game. You start off with around a 50-60 slot inventory, not counting the items that your characters have equiped. You purchase backpack upgrades throughout the game that add more space. I have 100 inventory slots currently. If you just get it through your head that part of the game is not being able to rely on an infinite amount of resources in your backpack at all times, it makes complete sense. I think its enjoyable trying to figure out how best to optimize my inventory. Do I really need a dozen lesser elixirs of lightning resistance? Maybe I will, but I'm going to sell them and deal with the consequences.

You have to decide what is worth hanging onto and make sure to offload the junk you are carrying on a semi-regular basis. I usually run with around 50-60 of my 100 slots full. If you could carry a dozen of every kind of elemental resistance elixir and 3 full sets of gear for each character it would take some of the challenge out of the game. I purchased the Wardens Keep DLC after hearing so much bitching about inventory space and just decided I would go do that quest as soon as I got to the point that I needed it. I haven't come close to that point yet.

I'm not trying to come off as annoying with this post, although I probably have. I'm just unhappy to see a game that I am really enjoying be picked apart by people with entitlement issues. The game has its faults, but any fan of the genre should have no regrets in buying the game and all its current and future DLC if Bioware keeps up the quality that they have provided so far.

Also, you don't have to buy Warden's Keep to get a storage chest. One of the modders already created one that appears in your camp, and you can download that for free.

You can find it here:
http://social.bioware.com/project/463/

Obviously, this only applies to PC owners.

@wugganowski
Can't believe it took 33 posts for somebody to figure out what Bioware was doing with the Shale DLC (free for new/$15 for used) >_<
Anybody that actually follows the gaming industry would know just how much used games actually harm companies (which is why I buy new, unless the game is too old)

Also, GREAT game! Me and my friend are still barely halfway through and other than writing essays for college and some occasional Borderlands we've been playing since launch xD

FYI: Your article title says $1million, but it's not bucks, it's 1 million copies or did I misread?